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hoped this ordinance would help to bring the payday loan organizations into the light of the vision of the citizens of Eugene and the payday loan companies would be forced to “check into justice.” Betty Snowden , P.O. Box 5166, Eugene, 97405, spoke as a business owner and a concerned citizen. She related the story of a family who became involved with a payday loan organization. The family lost their food stamps and took a $700 payday loan for a term of two weeks at a fee of $140 and an annual interest rate of 521 percent. The family had written a postdated check for $840 but the check had not cleared the bank after two weeks. The family was assessed a $25 check return fee and an offer to roll over the loan for $140 was made. This cycle repeated itself and the family took out two additional payday loans and a car title loan. She related that this family became caught in a financial trap until they finally sought the services of a local credit union, which helped them finance the repayment of what had become a debt of over $2,000. She said most of the customers of payday loan businesses were already cash-strapped and barely had their heads above water. She observed that when people were desperate they did desperate things. She declared that no one should be gouged with outrageous interest rates in loan terms that trap them in more debt. She said people get payday loans to help pay rent, buy groceries and medicine, but then end up in an even worse position because of them. She underscored that steps had to be taken to help the citizens of our community and the City could start with this payday loan ordinance. She thanked the council for its time and commended the councilors for their good work. Laurie Trieger , 2710 Polk Street, submitted testimony in writing on behalf of Dan Bryant. Ms. Trieger reported that the State Legislature had passed payday loan reform legislation in April that would not go into effect until July 2007. She said with over 700,000 payday loans being made in Oregon each year, tens of thousands of unregulated loans could be undertaken between now and then. She said the council had the power to offer people taking payday loans out in Eugene a modest bit of consumer protection almost immediately. Eugene would be joining seven other city governments in sending this message to the payday loan industry. She stated that the provisions in the ordinance were complementary to and not a duplication of the statewide law. She added that the ordinance was a perfect fit with the council’s initiative to address homelessness in Eugene. She stressed that in order to help families stabilize economically the City must do all it can to ensure their meager resources were not further watered down. She related that as Advocacy and Outreach Coordinator for Food for Lane County she had seen many changes in shifting trends but one thing remained constant: people who seek food boxes do so because they do not have the financial wherewithal to meet their basic human needs of safe secure shelter, adequate health care, and food. She averred that hunger persisted even in the face of news of a recovering economy and that for far too many Oregonians, wages were simply not keeping pace with the costs of providing basics. She said thousands of Oregon workers were losing ground. Many attempt to bridge the gaps created by poverty wages with short-term, high-interest payday loans and end up in a “debt trap.” She underscored that Food for Lane County’s mission was to eliminate hunger in the community and it was committed to providing emergency food programs and developing creative responses to the problem of hunger. She declared that in order to achieve that mission, a climate that honored families in their efforts to create healthy whole financially stable lives was required. She said the ordinance would provide modest protections for low- and middle-waged consumers of payday loans, many of whom also need food boxes. She added that she was also speaking on behalf of a local coalition that included members of the faith community, business owners, payday loan consumers, social service providers, labor representatives and concerned citizens. She urged the City Council to approve adoption and prompt enactment of the ordinance. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 10, 2006 Page 7 Regular Meeting